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Show The owls in New Zealand used to be as harmless as doves; indeed, they once were "mousing owls," and, therefore, useful. But one night a settler left a shespskin nailed to his roof, and an owl came along and tasted of the fat mutton left thereon. That owl became a sheep-killer, sheep-killer, alighting on a lamb's back three nights later. Still more strange, all the other owls began to like mutton, and now the New Zealand bird of that species slays thousands upon thousands of sheep uieir appetites growing bv what they feed on, and thei numbers increasing in proportion to their prosperity. They light on the backs ot the sheep" and tear the poor beasts with their beaks, goin at once down through the carcase to the kidney fat, which to the owl's tongue is the daintiest of morsels. |